Over the course of the last century, food production shifted further and further away, in terms of both time and distance, from the point of consumption. For example, a loaf of bread may now be baked and packaged hundreds of miles away from where it is eventually consumed, and may spend a week or more in transportation and storage before being sold to the end consumer. For this reason, it has long been important to preserve certain food products after production and before placing those products into the stream of commerce.
While “wet” products such as processed meet are susceptible to bacterial outgrowth, non-wet products such as bread, English muffins, cheese, and tortillas are more susceptible to mold growth. Although it is known to apply mold inhibitors to certain such products, it has been difficult to use this technique more generally. Considering a specific example, the agent Natamycin is an effective mold inhibitor that is currently used in cheese and other dairy products.
Although natamycin is usable on baked products, previous application involved use of a spinning disk or drum technology, and large amounts of overspray did not reach the target. As a result, special equipment was needed to catch the overspray and filter it using additional process steps. Additionally, natamycin solution overspray is subject to becoming contaminated with particles from the product being sprayed, airborne contaminates such as flour dust, bacteria or any other airborne particle which could be considered a contaminate, all of which are typically found in a bakery environment. This invention allows precision application of natamycin, greatly reducing the amount of overspray, and therefore eliminating the need to reclaim and recycle the overspray in certain types of applications. Human intake of natamycin is closely regulated by the FDA, which has set a maximum allowable human intake across all food products as well as a maximum allowable cumulative content. Because natamycin is already used in certain dairy products, its maximum level for individual consumption could be exceeded; therefore precision application placement and fluid amounts are critical parameters.